The woods were very much alive as I sat in my stand, for opening morning of the 2005 deer season. The sun was starting to rise, the temperature was in the low 50’s which is mild for this kind of hunt and it was quite windy. You could hear the birds singing, squirrels bustling, and the occasional sound of the deer rustling through the forest. The rut was in full swing, which means, in other words, the deer were ready to mate.

While sitting here I can see a group of deer feeding in the distance at about 200 yards away that soon disappeared into the trees. Here I am, on my very first deer hunt with Wayne Hubbard where I actually get the opportunity to do a little hunting myself. Normally I am on the Producing or the business side of the show but, I have been getting prepared for this for over a period of time. I stared out by first taking the Hunter’s Safety course taught by David Wyatt of the Missouri Department of Conservation, which is what all beginning hunters have do. I have always been under the tutelage of Wayne Hubbard and have been on a great deal of the excursions.

Wayne has taught and helped many beginner hunters on the art of the hunt. It is such wonderful thing to see this brother in person in his element doing what he does so effortlessly and so natural with flavor. Watching him on TV doesn’t’ do him the justice of seeing him in live action. Prior to the hunt, we scouted the area and found a spot where we wanted to sit. It had a lot of deer trails and signs all around. As we sat in the sweet spot as Wayne calls it, it wasn’t long before I heard something running towards our direction. I looked over to the side and I could see a doe running straight down the hill towards us. The doe ran right past us about 10 yards away as fast as she could go. Wayne whispered to me to get ready because she is being chased probably by a buck.

All of a sudden we heard this deep grunting and snorting noise and Wayne said “Get ready to put the hammer on him”. When the buck got closer Wayne whistled. The buck stopped and froze and this gave me the opportunity to take the shot. I squeezed the trigger; I then looked to see and Wayne said, “Game Over” and we watched the buck run down the hill about 50 yards and fall. I was in a little shock from all the excitement. It happened so fast and I couldn’t believe it!

My first deer was a buck. When we got up to go retrieve him, he seemed to get bigger and bigger the closer we got. When we finally got to him, he was a huge 8 point buck. I tagged him with the required Missouri deer tag and Wayne field dressed him and got him out of the woods. We took him to get weighed and he came in at 235lbs. I was very happy to get such a large buck for my very first hunt, I couldn’t have done this without the proper training and being with such a skilled pro like Wayne. I was very satisfied that I obtained my initial goal of harvesting a deer and being able to feed some people. One deer alone can feed up to twenty people and this meat is very healthy, low fat and lean. I can honestly say I did it one way and that was Urban American Style!